and Spike noted a double standard in the music industry, saying that the use of the word nigger, in music, does not cause controversy. Additionally, Jackson did use the word nigger on another song on the HIStory album, but it did not attract media attention. (ONLY SPIKE, MAN!)

And Spielberg's disgust with MJ using anti-semitic terminology was not noted until this week, although it seems unlikely that such a quote was obtained in the last week from Spielberg (imo). (so far, the only celebrity that I have seen to criticize MJ publicly, or at least offer a back-handed eulogy, has been Paul McCartney, who referred to MJ as a 'talented boy-man')_________________social networking

So Michael Jackson and Stan Lee once shared several conversations together, and were both so isolated by their fame as to be unable to understand the other person as anything other than a means to an end (MJ trying to buy an empire famous for making heavy impressions on children, and Stan trying to claim some coherent power over several farcical strips that have since seriously gotten way too much momentum goin' on):

Diddy got upset that people were dancing to MJ and "not listening to his words...to the message that he is telling us!"

Got into a couple of convos last week about the ambiguousness of MJ lyrics, jokingly, but Chuck Klosterman, for example, is a lot more serious in saying that MJ lyrics don't mean a damn thing other than what he is literally singing, and that there is no subtext. Brutal. But if that were the case, MJ wouldn't have put a warning before the Thriller video espousing that he does not believe in the occult, and his lyrics in "They Don't Care About Us" would mean that he is an anti-semite, which I don't think is the case. Personally, I like how up in the air it is what he means by 'beat it!'_________________social networking

I guess a lot of DJs are doing MJ tribute mixes, makes sense. This link has two good ones, a single mp3 by DJ Ayres, the other (posted in the comments) a zip file of a 35 track mix by KMT(IC) Slim (whoever the fuck that is):

The Ayres mix is more proficient, but I like the ambitiousness of KMT, and the way it mixes in rap tracks that sample MJ songs, which cracks me up just because it reminds me of this episode of Yacht Rock, where Warren G learns how to be smooth by sampling Michael McDonald.

Magic Johnson had an anecdote where he described finding out that MJ liked KFC as "the greatest moment of my life." I bet those two hanging out is like an episode of 2 Stupid Dogs.

Brooke Shields, much like Lisa Marie Presley on her blog, really shied away from the notion of any physical relationship with MJ. Now every time I hear a "lover" talk about MJ, I just think about this quote from Gotham Chopra's remembrance of the man:

One night [Michael] did call me in a panic. He had just gotten married to Lisa Marie Presley and needed advice é─ý sex advice. He was incredibly nervous and said that he wanted to make sure that Lisa was impressed with his é─˙moves.é─¨ He asked me if I had any advice. I answered with one word: é─˙foreplay.é─¨

é─˙Really?é─¨ He answered. é─˙Girls really like that?é─¨

Martin Bashir co-anchored the ABC coverage of the memorial service, and at one point made an interesting point about how much overt Christianity there was for the memory of a man who had recently converted to Islam. His co-anchor, Charles Gibson (I think) ignored the fuck out of that.

Finally, and just because of his segment on Chappelle's show where he gets white people to dance, it cracked me up that John Mayer's tribute to Michael was playing "Human Nature," a song written by Toto._________________social networking

Is this the first time someone has posted nearly 11 times in a row? It's kind of endearing, Evan.

I can't relate to your sadness. I avowed at the age of 10 in a moral judgment, while ripping the tape from and stomping on my "Thriller" cassettes and tearing my "Beat It" t-shirt to shreds, that I would try not to dance to or empathize with Michael Jackson._________________This shirt is dry clean only....which means, it's dirty.
- Mitch Hedberg